Josh White - Complete Recorded Works Vol. 1-6 [1993-1998/FLAC]

To many blues enthusiasts, Josh White was a folk revival artist. It's true that the second half of his music career found him based in New York playing to the coffeehouse and cabaret set and hanging out with Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, and fellow transplanted blues artists Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee.

 In Chicago during the 1960s, his shirt was unbuttoned to the waist à la Harry Belafonte and his repertoire consisted of folk revival standards such as "Scarlet Ribbons." He was a show business personality -- a star renowned for his sexual magnetism and his dramatic vocal presentations. Many listeners were unaware of White's status as a major figure in the Piedmont blues tradition. The first part of his career saw him as apprentice to some of the greatest blues and religious artists ever, including Willie Walker, Blind Blake, Blind Joe Taggart (with whom he recorded), and allegedly even Blind Lemon Jefferson. On his own, he recorded both blues and religious songs, including a classic version of "Blood Red River." A fine guitar technician with an appealing voice, he became progressively more sophisticated in his presentation. Like many other Carolinians and Virginians who moved north to urban areas, he took up city ways, remaining a fine musician if no longer a down-home artist. Like several other canny blues players, he used his roots music to broaden and enhance his life experience, and his talent was such that he could choose the musical idiom that was most lucrative at the time. 

Vol. 1 - 6 September 1929 to 13 November 1933

Vol. 2 - 24 November 1933 to 18 March 1935

Vol. 3 - 18 March 1935 to 7 March 1940

Vol. 4 - 4 June 1940 to 1941

Vol. 5 - 1944

Vol. 6 - 1944-1945

Elvis Presley - ELVIS: The Complete 1954-1962 U.S.A. Singles (4 CD, 2015/FLAC)

 

 A great collection of the US singles of the King Of Rock'n'Roll from 1954 to 1962

Booker T. & The MG's - Original Album Series (5 CD, 2012) [FLAC]

 

• 1962 Green Onions
• 1965 Soul Dressing
• 1966 And Now!
• 1967 Hip Hug-Her
• 1968 Doin' Our Thing

VA - A Time To Remember 1930-1990 [60 CD Collection] years 1950-1959

 

Look back to music history with Capitol Records box - today : 50's

Blind Willie McTell - Complete Recorded Works Vols.1-3 (1927-1931) [FLAC]

 Willie Samuel McTell was one of the blues' greatest guitarists, and also one of the finest singers ever to work in blues. A major figure with a local following in Atlanta from the 1920s onward, he recorded dozens of sides throughout the '30s under a multitude of names -- all the better to juggle "exclusive" relationships with many different record labels at once -- including Blind Willie, Blind Sammie, Hot Shot Willie, and Georgia Bill, as a backup musician to Ruth Mary Willis. And those may not have been all of his pseudonyms -- we don't even know what he chose to call himself, although "Blind Willie" was his preferred choice among friends. Much of what we do know about him was learned only years after his death, from family members and acquaintances. His family name was, so far as we know, McTier or McTear, and the origins of the "McTell" name are unclear. What is clear is that he was born into a family filled with musicians -- his mother and his father both played guitar, as did one of his uncles, and he was also related to Georgia Tom Dorsey, who later became the Rev. Thomas Dorsey.